About

Colin Currie

Hailed as “the world’s finest and most daring percussionist” (Spectator), Colin Currie is a solo and chamber artist at the peak of his powers. Championing new music at the highest level, Currie is the soloist of choice for many of today’s foremost composers and he performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors.

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A dynamic and adventurous soloist, Currie’s commitment to commissioning and creating new music was recognised in 2015 by the Royal Philharmonic Society who awarded him the Instrumentalist Award. From his earliest years Currie forged a pioneering path in creating new music for percussion, winning the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award in 2000 and receiving a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2005. Currie has premiered works by composers such as Steve Reich, Elliott Carter, Louis Andriessen, HK Gruber, Mark-Anthony Turnage, James MacMillan, Brett Dean, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Jennifer Higdon, Kalevi Aho, Rolf Wallin, Kurt Schwertsik, Andrew Norman, Julia Wolfe and Nico Muhly. Looking ahead, in the coming season Currie will premiere new works by Helen Grime, Simon Holt and Andy Akiho.

In October 2017 Currie launched Colin Currie Records, in conjunction with LSO Live, as a platform for recording his diverse projects, celebrating the extraordinary developments for percussion music in recent times. The label’s first release was the Colin Currie Group’s debut recording, Steve Reich’s Drumming, which was hailed as “thunderously exciting” (The Times). In October 2018 Currie releases the second disc in this catalogue, The Scene of The Crime, which is a collection of works performed by Colin Currie and Håkan Hardenberger in their duo recital.

Highlights of the 2018/19 season include the world premiere of Helen Grime’s Percussion Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Marin Alsop in January 2019, followed by the US premiere with Alsop and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra later that month. The season is marked by a number of other premieres including new works for string quartet and percussion by Simon Holt and Suzanne Farrin with the JACK Quartet at the BBC Proms, a new Percussion Concerto by Robert Honstein with Albany Symphony, and the US premiere of Turnage Martland Memorial with Minnesota Orchestra/Vänskä.

2018/19 also sees the launch of the Currie’s new percussion quartet, Colin Currie Quartet. A dominant premiere is a substantial new work for four marimbas by Kevin Volans and appearances in their debut season include the NCPA Beijing, Wigmore Hall and East Neuk Festival among others. Currie’s orchestral engagements include appearances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Zagreb Philharmonic, Boston Modern Orchestra and GAIDA Festival.

Currie’s dynamic ensemble the Colin Currie Group was formed in 2006 to celebrate the music of Steve Reich and made its five-star debut at the BBC Proms. Since then, with Reich’s personal endorsement Currie and his ensemble have taken on the role of ambassadors of Drumming, which they have performed at many venues and festivals internationally.

Currie is Artist in Association at London’s Southbank Centre, where he was the focus of a major percussion festival Metal Wood Skin in 2014 and continues to perform there every season.

"His words set expectations high, and his performance exceeded them…. Currie’s white mallets blurred as they raced over bongos and tom-toms, both arms and one foot maintaining distinct rhythms. He moved with taut physicality and fierce focus, tweaking each limb’s pattern and prominence, phasing them in and out… He bowed with a smile, having rocked the house and raised the roof."Boston Globe, December 2016

"a blistering and mesmeric performance... He erupted onto the stage, launching his programme to explosive effect with Per Norgards’ Fire over Water... The relative peace of Hosakawa’s Remembrance evoked an altogether different world, as did the wonderful mercurial qualities of both Stockhausen’s Vibra-Elufa and Ralf Wallin’s dazzling miniatures, Realismos magicos. And that was Currie’s playing: magical and dazzling to eye and ear, climaxing in the classic drum battle that is Xenakis’ Rebonds B." Glasgow Herald, November 2016

“An evening of wonders at Wigmore Hall… Rolling tremolandos gave an effect of aural marbling, with Currie’s dexterity and control of dynamic fluctuation as awe-inspiring as the piece itself." Times

“Currie played this virtuoso half-hour of music on instruments from tom-toms to south Asian temple blocks from memory... Currie’s virtuosity energised all and the young audience was hugely enthusiastic.”Financial Times

“The combined genius of pianist Nicholas Hodges and percussionist Colin Currie, armed with a battery of percussion and piano, made thrilling theatre out of it, amplifying the electronic cues with a visceral immediacy that brought every moment to life. The entire presentation was directional, engaging and unquestionable proof that Stockhausen was not only onto something, but way ahead of the game.” Scotsman

The Colin Currie Quartet was formed in 2018 by Colin Currie to present the diverse works written for percussion quartet. The group is made up of Colin Currie, Owen Gunnell, Adrian Spillett and Sam Walton, who form the core of the Colin Currie Group, and in this new collective they perform works by Steve Reich and branch out into other composers who have been swept along by that highly influential force.

As some of the world’s leading solo, symphonic and chamber percussionists, each player of the quartet brings a different and insightful slant to the art of chamber percussion performance, and the group will be adding substantially to its repertoire in the coming years.